


A Foil At-tea-mpt

by lumienarc



Series: Hauntober 2020 [3]
Category: Original Work
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-03
Updated: 2020-10-03
Packaged: 2021-03-07 21:07:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,637
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26794117
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lumienarc/pseuds/lumienarc
Summary: Entry for Hauntober 2020 prompt #3: Tea
Series: Hauntober 2020 [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1948243
Kudos: 1





	A Foil At-tea-mpt

Behind the lines of buildings, kiosks, and stalls at the Market Road, right around the corner where it was closer to the western woods, there was a tea shop. Sunny Butterfield and Peregrine Somervillebought the former florist’s business with the money they obtained from their dead parents. No, they were not sisters—cousins. Their parents were merchants, pretty successful too, but the Butterfields died when they went to China, accidentally killed when a group of rogues rampaged. The Somervilles passed away a year later on their journey back to the country. Their ship was attacked by pirates. So, Sunny and Penny (short for Peregrine) decided to take over the businesses and also started a new one. The tea shop was an experiment. Penny wanted it to be a big break because it was the only thing they started themselves. Sunny just loved tea.

The shop’s interior was Penny’s idea. Two tables at the window, two more in the middle of the shop for the guests. Wallpaper was beige with a hint of pink, cosy light came from tulip-like lamps they installed on the wall. They stayed behind the counter near the back of the house. There were cans and paper bags full of different types of tea they obtained through the trading connection inherited from their dead parents. The tea products were displayed on shelves at the walls and on the counter. They showcased several tea sets they had too. Penny baked biscuits and Sunny made sandwiches. They sold these too. However, the business wasn’t doing so well.

“Sunny, we need to talk.”

Penny entered the shop with shopping bag full of ingredients for tonight’s dinner. She went straight to the back of the house where they lived. She put the bag in the kitchen as quickly as she could and then walked back to meet Sunny at the counter.

“Yes, Penny dear, let’s talk,” Sunny cheerfully answered as she poured water into her teapot. It was honestly the most expensive tea set in the house, made of fine china, with royal blue floral pattern on them. Penny sat down and sighed at the sight.

“We need to talk about your tea.”

“Oh, yes, of course,” Sunny replied readily. She sat down too. Her eyes sparkles. “It’s oolong today. The oldest one we have. Tasted really nice with the macarons you baked, Penny. Marvellous!” She was excited, so much that her cheeks turned pink.

“No. You misunderstand,” Penny said with exasperated sigh. Slowly, she told her cousin, so that she could hear it clearly, “You drink too much tea.”

“What? That’s preposterous! I drink decent amount of tea!” Sunny defended herself, appalled.

“Sunny, you make tea eight times a day!”

“That is not true. I only make tea at breakfast, after we open the shop, elevensies, lunchtime, afternoon tea time, pre-supper tea time, supper time, and one before bed.”

“That’s eight.”

“Oh, really?” Sunny innocently asked. She did not realise it. She started recounting with her fingers and Penny just slapped her forehead—very much not ladylike, but who cares for now. Penny took her cousin’s hands and firmly held her gaze

“Listen, we need this business to stay afloat. Our biggest customers are the one that pay a lot for rare commodity that we monopolised in this area. You cost us a lot by _using the ordered tea for yourself!_ ”

“Wait, don’t get angry. Do you want a cuppa?”

“I am talking about you need to stop drinking our rare tea and you offer me a cup of tea that you, again, stole from our stock!”

“But, Penny, I didn’t take a lot. Just three spoons!”

“Sunny, you finished a bag in a week. You said you wouldn’t take more than two spoons, but you finished the previous oolong tea stock in a bloody week. Mr. Callaghan ordered that one. He was disappointed that his order was one bag short!”

“But we compensated him, didn’t we?” Sunny innocently said, drinking from her cup of tea.

“Uh, Sunny, stop! You missed the point—”

Jingles at the door stopped her from talking. Both women turned toward it and they saw someone unfamiliar walking toward them. He was a tall, pale man in blue shirt and brown trousers, his hair was brownish but looked black without lighting, his eyes were golden. Very odd. He seemed awkward. He looked around the shop. Penny put on her friendly professional smile.

“Hello, welcome to House of Ch’a, is there anything we can do for you today, sir?”

“Hm, yes, actually,” he said although sounded a bit unsure. “I am looking for a kind of tea that has earthy flavour to it. Very earthy.” Well, now that sounded even stranger. “My guest prefers something that has earth taste in his tea, and I… well, we don’t have any for drinks. Do you have anything like that?”

“But of course!” Penny stepped out of the counter corner, leaving Sunny drinking her tea, still guiltless. “We talk about this later,” she whispered. Sunny grinned and nodded with her cup ready under her lips. Penny went to the shelf at the right and took one bag that was labelled “rooibos”. Such a funny word, Penny thought, but she was professional and used to it after a while.

“This tea came from Africa. It is made from roots, not leaves. It has earthy flavour and I guarantee this is just the taste that your guest is looking for. May I suggest a cup of it? You won’t be disappointed.” The man looked at the bag and then at Penny’s hand that pointed at nearby tea set. She always made sure her customers know what they were buying. It was an art of establishing trust. The man turned his eyes back to Penny. He shook his head.

“I will trust you on this. How much is it?”

“It’s pretty expensive since this is a rare commodity—“

“I’ll take it.” He seemed to be in a hurry and he just didn’t want to wait. Penny did not understand, but she didn’t really care now that she was holding gold coins in her hands. It had been weeks since she was handed any. The man took the bag right after he handed the bag of coins. He left so quickly and as soon as he was gone, another man entered the shop.

“Is that… is that Mr. Cedric?” Georgie was astounded. Georgie was their friend; he visited the shop every now and then when he wasn’t being a slave for Sam the farmer. He kept checking if he was seeing right.

“Wait, you mean _that_ man is Cedric? The Cedric?” Sunny asked, in shock. “He is such a handsome man!” Penny rolled her eyes.

“Who cares who he is. He just handed me a bag of gold coins,” Penny said, walking back to the counter. “And I said stop taking tea from our shop, Sunny!” Penny shouted as she caught her partner scoop out tea from a bag on the counter.

“But Georgie doesn’t like oolong—“

“It’s okay, Sunny, I won’t be long,” Georgie said. He rummaged his pocket and fished out a letter. He handed it to Penny. “It’s from Mr. Braithwaite.” Penny was happy to hear from another wealthy customer as usual. Georgie leaned on the counter, and he began to gossip, as usual, because he always listened to words people said in the market. “Listen, did you hear something happen in Thesland? They said a demon came to their market this morning. Everyone was in a shock. It was a little demon. He had no face, just skull. He spoke like a little boy and dressed like one, too. Mr. Callaghan had fainted at the sight of him. I won’t be surprised. Mr. Callaghan lost his close friend that he considered as little brother about twenty years ago. I heard the little brother acted like a demon too. People thought he was a devil incarnate and Mr. Callaghan had done a lot to fix his behaviour, more than his parents would ever do. People used to talk about it a lot, but in the end no one found the evidence that the boy was killed or that he moved away from here. Just disappeared. Poof! The parents were accused to have murdered him, so they had them hanged and the money and mansion was given to Mr. Callaghan, who was then legally their only nephew. The rich people’s drama and life, you never understand it.”

“Are you really storing that kind of nonsense in your head?” Penny asked, eyebrow raised.

“Well,” Georgie shrugged, “when you are working with someone like Sam, you will know that much. He won’t shut up about everything and he just knows things. He is very nosy. I stay quiet, but he always has something to tell me when he is not making me work thrice hard.”

“Why did you look so surprised to see that man here? He might seem awkward, but I don’t see what’s so special about him.” Penny folded the paper she just finished reading and kept it in her pocket. Georgie rolled his eyes.

“Mr. Cedric never leaves his house. Everyone knows that.”

“But he did.”

“That’s what I mean!”

“Sure, whatever.” Georgie groaned at the reaction. Penny was back behind the counter again. “Seriously, Sunny, we need to get you fixed. Drink less tea.”

“Then what will I drink?” Sunny gasped.

“Water?”

“Without tea?”

“Surprise! You can drink water without tea, Sunny. Or mead!” Penny said sarcastically. Sunny looked horrified. Georgie laughed his arse off. “Come on, you must reduce your tea intake, okay? Let’s begin with four times a day, okay?” Sunny gasped and looked even more horrified. The banter continued in the tea shop.

Sunny still drank tea eight times a day the next day.


End file.
